Know-How Exchange : Other

Dear jenniferljh00,

You're the product manager. The manager of the product. The go to person, the mover and the shaker, the one with their finger on the pulse of the throbbing beast of the world of commerce.

Sorry to be the one to state the very obvious here but because you're asking this question, do you not think you're undermining your credibility?

Off set your costs? Hmm.

As far as I'm aware, and unless I'm missing the point of something, I think you'll find that it will be YOU (or, more to the point, your company) that winds up paying the distributor to get your product to the market, not the other way around.

The possibility of you finding a distributor who will be willing to off set YOUR costs will be, I think you'll find, a rare one.

Were I a distributor, to my ear a request to offset your costs would be ringing a loud alarm bell that you, as my potential client, won't be able to pay what you owe me.

What concessions will you be offering in exchange for this expectation? What guarantees can you offer?

As your distributor, I'm in business of distributing to my retailers so that I (and they) might make a profit. I'm NOT in business to act charitably toward a client who might appear to have a cash flow issue.

As your distributor, you need to be able to show me that you're financially sound enough to pay me to get your goods into the market, and that you're up to snuff enough to maintain a steady supply. Because if you can't do this, you give me a problem, a problem that reflects on my company in the eyes of the retailers
I supply. This means YOUR problem becomes MY problem.

Not good.

Before your company finds a distributor to work on your behalf, you might want to spend more time figuring out the mechanics of finishing your product so it can be sold, AND spend time stabilizing your corporate ability to carry out the month to month business of business.

If there's some deal with distributors I'm ignorant of, then of course, my point is moot and I'll stand down (and, if needs be, apologize). But to my mind, your question raises rather more questions than you might be prepared to answer right now.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA